Sam Kaplan Winemaker

For Sam Kaplan, all roads have always led to Napa Valley, going as far back as his childhood in Oklahoma. His father would order grapes via train from Napa Valley to blend with those he grew in their home vineyard, which Sam grew up stomping and later sampling as finished wines over family dinners. 

Sam went to Lewis and Clark College in Portland hoping to follow in his physician father’s footsteps as a doctor. Instead, he followed his father’s other path, opting to instead pursue a formal career in wine while studying abroad in Spain. After living with another wine-loving family there, Sam grew captivated by the universal culture around wine and its powerful ability to bring diverse groups of people together. 

A pivotal point in Sam’s life came while visiting a winery in the Willamette Valley. Walking into the cellar that day, the smell of fermentation overwhelmed him, sending chills down his spine. The intensity of aromas brought him back to his childhood, made him feel instantly at home, and cemented his calling.

After graduating with a Religious Studies degree, Sam was offered a role at Gary Andrus’ Napa Valley property, Pine Ridge. His instinct was to get a formal wine education, but Gary – now his mentor – convinced him to learn on the job, by farming and working harvests. Sam then went to ZD Wines, where he earned his winemaker chops working his way from the bottom up. He met his wife Nancy there, who worked on her off days to expand her palate as a Michelin star chef. 

After seven years, the opportunity of a lifetime came knocking in the form of a winemaker role at what would become Arkenstone Estate. He helped design the Howell Mountain project from soup to nut with owners Ron and Susan Krausz. He remains Winemaker and General Manager for the Estate. His wines quickly became legendary for their depth, complexity, and balance, attracting the attention of Hayes Drumwright and his partners who were starting a new project, Memento Mori. 

Sam founded his consulting business in 2010 to become Memento Mori’s founding winemaker and launched the very first vintage to immediate critical acclaim. He made headlines in 2016, when a pair of wines he made earned two of the top three bids (at $130,000 each) at Premiere Napa Valley. He later co-founded Vida Valiente Winery with his wife, Nancy Kaplan, and Hayes and his wife. After over two decades in Napa, a #1 bid at PNV, and multiple 100-point scores later, Sam has a proven record putting wineries on the international connoisseurs’ map. 

Sam considers himself an “agriculture-first” winemaker and was deeply involved in sourcing from some of the most coveted sites in Napa Valley for Vida Valiente. He was blown away by High Ranch when he first saw it and recognized its potential even before Connie and Shawn Guttersen asked him to map and plant it. It felt like the stars had aligned; further confirmed when the debut vintage of High Ranch earned an incredible 99-poingt score. 

Sam remains actively involved in the farming of High Ranch Estate and makes the wines at Arkenstone. He also collaborates with Nancy on a Sonoma Coast wine label they started in 2015 called MAXEM, in tribute to their kids, Max and Emma. When he isn’t making iconic wine, he’s traveling, fly fishing with his kids, helping with the Vida Valiente Foundation, exploring new recipes with Nancy, farming their garden, or blending artisan gins for his famous martinis.